Tough homestretch but good future for Ducks

By Jim den Hollander

Editor/Publisher

Saukhockey.info

The Dells Ducks are hoping some solid play at the annual Chicago Showcase can carry over into the final 13 games of the USPHL regular season, beginning with a pair on home ice this weekend against the Minnesota Mullets.

The Mullets, coached by Chris Walby who has Sauk County hockey connections, originally from the Lodi area, but playing his youth hockey in Sauk Prairie, also turned in a nice performance in Chicago and both teams are looking to keep their progress rolling into the new year.

The Ducks currently sit eighth in the eight-team Midwest-West and currently trail seventh place Rum River Mallards by 11 points, so climbing in the standings would be a longshot, but team morale is high with the addition of several new players (see video) and this team is clearly not done fighting.

The Mullets won three of four in Chicago and that builds to 4 of five when considering the team’s 3-1 win against the Wisconsin Rapids Riverkings on Dec. 11. Overall, the Mullets are sixth in the division with a 12-14-1-0 record, but the recent wins have the team in a position to move higher and home ice in the first round of playoffs is not out of the question.

For the Ducks, build has been slow, but there are a number of benchmarks the team could set in the final 13 games of the season.

TEAM

As a team, the Ducks have already collected four wins, one more than last season and points-wise, the nine points is also one more than last year. But the team has shown a marked improvement in almost every area.

The Ducks have scored 72 goals this season which is already seven more than last year with 13 games to play. Last season the team allowed 365 goals and the way the team is playing currently (225 GAG), they will likely finish under 300 goals against this year.

The 386 Penalty minutes is third highest in the division, but only a fraction more than half of the 768 it collected a year ago.

INDIVIDUALS

A year ago, Jaden Tkaczuk led the team in scoring with 19 points. This season, that would not rank him in the top four as Caden Glamkowski (27g, 19a) leads the way now with 46 points, and on a pace to perhaps break some longstanding team records.

In the Ducks’ opening season, Aidan Verbeke led the team with 37 goals and 76 points in 2011-12. Both records are still intact today, Ian Wood getting within one after a 36-goal 2013-14 season.

The 27 for Glamkowski so far leaves his 10 behind Verbeke’s mark with 13 games to play. If he doesn’t score another goal, the ‘04 from St. Charles, IL will have the sixth highest total. His next goal will move him into a tie for fourth with Sherman Mowery and Jake Stima.

Glamkowski is also in a tie for 15^th with his 46 points, a total also reached by David Kaplan in 2015-16.

Tkaczuk has collected 52 points (21g, 31a) in his two seasons with the Ducks so far, ranking him in a tie with Jason Heard as the team’s 16^th leading scorer all time and Glamkowski sits 22^nd. Both will make their way up that list if they can continue to produce in home stretch.

Perhaps most impressive is Glamkowski’s points per game which this season is at 1.533. That ranks him fourth highest all time behind Verbeke (1.583), Nick Albergo (1.600) and Connor Rickabus (2.00). The leader came up with 12 assists in six games played, so that record might not be beatable, but Glamkowski is on an awesome pace.

If age is considered, Glamkowski’s goals and points totals are the best by a 17-year-old. He is already three points past Billy Warren who collected 43 as a linemate to Verbeke in that first season. His 27 goals are by far the best by a 17-year-old, the next best total 19, also by Billy Warren.

Go down one year and defenseman Jack Kopfstein will wrap up his season tied for the best season as a 16-year-old. The Vista, CA defenseman has put up three goals and a dozen assists for 15 points. That matches the five goals and 10 assists for Jacob Cameron of Oregon, WI in 2017-18. Kopfstein will unfortunately not be able to build on that as a collarbone injury suffered in Chicago has brought his season to a premature end.

There are currently three 16-year-olds playing for the Ducks, Zach Windom and Oliver Cabala joining Kopfstein while two others – Jace Weimer and Sam Bachman have suited up at different times on an interim basis.

That is five out of 15 players that have played for the Ducks as 16-year-olds over the past 11 seasons. Current Ducks Seth Stoutenburg and Thomas Howell also played as 16-year-olds with the Ducks.

All these stats show while overall, there might be some reasons to grumble as the Ducks have been in rebuild mode 2.0 and 3.0 over the past five seasons, this young team is moving in the right direction.

The future looks good in the Duck Pond.

Hockey Talk Aug. 21 — Ducks Training Camp — Day 1

By Jim den Hollander

Editor/Publisher

Saukhockey.info

The Dells Ducks officially opened the 2021-22 season Saturday (August 21) with what will certainly be remembered as their easiest day of the campaign.

Ducks open training Camp – Day 1

The opening day for Ducks players involved paperwork, orientation and an opening meeting with players, parents and billets on hard at Bobber’s, a primary sponsor for the Ducks once again.

Coach Falzone talks to the players. families and billets at Bobber’s on the opening day of training camp for the 2021-22 season.

Sunday will be the team’s first ‘workout’ with testing and a field trip to Devil’s Lake. The team will do strictly dryland training for first week or so, part of the training including helping Lake Delton Ice Arena owner Aaron Kirby with installing the ice, beginning late in the first week. The process will take about a week with the rink ready for practices about Sept. 3.

Jack Kopfstein, a Dells Ducks rookie from California became the team’s first ‘Shoe Check’ victim of the season just minutes into the team’s first get together of the season at Bobber’s. Luckily his teammates helped him out on the chorus.

The Ducks will prepare for a trio of pre-season tests Sept. 10-12 in Detroit with the pair of games against the Detroit Fighting Irish and one against the Metro Jets from nearby Fraserville. The regular season will open the following weekend with a pair of home games against the Rum River Mallards from Isanti, Minn.

Seth Stoutenburg, a rookie with the Ducks in 2019-20 is back with the club for the 2021-22 season. The Roseville, Minn. native returns to the team as a third-year junior veteran.

Ducks Birthdays

A pair of former Dells Ducks celebrated birthdays today (August 21). David Kaplan turned 24 today and Cory Schwarz is also celebrating his 24^th Birthday.

Kaplan was an Assistant Captain and played a big part in the team’s USP3HL National Championship in the spring of 2016. He scored 25 goals and collected 46 points in 46 games that season before making the jump to Tier 2 with the Kenai River Brown Beas of the NAHL the following two seasons. In the fall of 2018, Kaplan moved to Superior, Wisconsin as a member of the Superior Yellowjackets in the NCAA Division 3 WIAC Division. He will return in September for his senior season with the Jackets.

Schwarz began his junior career with the Chicago Cougars but moved to the Dells for the 2016-17 campaign, scoring 14 goals and collecting 29 points in 44 games with the Ducks. He later spent time in Wisconsin Rapids and back in Chicago the following season before moving on to Illinois State University where he just wrapped up a three-year college run this spring.

The Ducks want to wish a Happy Birthday to family members, David and Cory!

Jimmy D’s top 10 Games — #10

Ducks players celebrate the series winning overtime goal against the Illiana Blackbirds in the spring of 2016. They went on to face another stiff three game series against the Cougars on the road in the next round.

Game 10 – Ducks 3 Illiana Blackbirds 2 (ot) Feb. 29, 2016

The 2015-16 season was ultimately the most successful of the nine Ducks’ seasons so far as it is the only season of the first nine that ended with a win.
However, it almost ended before the good stuff even started.

Despite an awesome 38-8-2 record, the Ducks, finished its first season in the USPHL ranked third in its USP3HL Midwest Western Division. The 78 points put up was two fewer than the 39-7-2 Forest Lake Lakers and one less than the 37-8-1 Chicago Cougars.

The third seeded Ducks hosted the sixth seeded Illiana Blackbirds (23-22-2) at the Poppy Waterman Ice Arena and appeared ready to brush them aside with a 3-0 shutout (one of many that season for goaltender Jared Young). In the Friday night contest.

The Blackbirds refused to go quietly, pulling out a 2-1 win on Saturday night and forcing a third and deciding game in the Division quarterfinal to wrap up the weekend.

In the finale, a last-minute goal pushed the game into overtime and suddenly it was a next-goal wins situation for the Ducks and Blackbirds.

The Ducks finally secured the win on a bit of a controversial play as once chance was waved off by the official but without a whistle. As the ref was signaling ‘no goal’ one of the players (I believe David Kaplan, but I could have that wrong) lifted the loose puck over the Illiana goaltender. The official quickly changed the washout to a ‘point’ for the goal and the Ducks survived to move on and play the Chicago Cougars in another thrilling three-game series that ultimately sent them to the National Championship tournament.

The reason my own memory of this goal is so vivid is because I was stationed directly behind the net as the goal judge. It was a rare occasion for me at the switch and it is the last time I ever did it.